Describe a time you heard someone you didn’t know talking on the phone in a public place.
You should say:
When and where it was;
What the person was talking about;
What you were doing at that time;
And explain how you felt about it.

41. 公共场所陌生人打电话

The most recent time I overheard206 someone else’s conversation was during the last national holiday. I went to Hangzhou for a trip with my friends. One day we were on a very crowded bus. A woman who looked about forty was sitting in front of me. She received a call and her speaker was really loud, so we basically heard the whole conversation.

The caller informed the lady that she had won a prize and was trying to transfer207 the prize money to her. He asked about the lady’s bank account number. The lady figured out208 it was a scam209. Instead of hanging up the phone, she swore loudly at210 the scammer.

Everyone on the bus stared, which really embarrassed her. She started explaining to us that it was a phone call scam. The scammer told her that he worked for a TV show. He said that she won because she answered ten questions correctly. The lady was sure that she didn’t win the prize. So, she suddenly realized that the caller was lying to her.

As an onlooker211, I was happy that she wasn’t scammed. But I really didn’t like her being loud in a public place. Plus, it’s not safe to talk so loud on the phone in front of so many people. You might leak important information to strangers.

206 overheard：无意中听到
207 transfer: 转账
208 figured out：判断出，断定
209 scam：骗局，诈骗；scammer：骗子
210 swore loudly at: 大声咒骂…
211 onlooker: 旁观者